Here is a post from Jean J. Davis, our Foreign and International Law Reference Librarian and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, who is in Beijing, China with her husband, Kenneth R. Davis:

Beijing, China – 12/11/2009

Hello Everyone:

The excellent administrators of Beijing University’s International M.B.A. Program have greatly eased our transition to life in this exciting city. Professors have a high status here–students refer to my husband, Ken, as “Dr. Davis.”

Jean and Ken Davis with the extremely helpful staff of Beijing University's International MBA program.

The university students of China are wonderful ambassadors! They began helping me from the moment that I sought a place to rest my bulging backpack in the full tram at the airport. Nick, a graduate mathematics student who speaks very good English, is our assigned assistant. Today, he accompanied Ken and me to the administrative office of the M.B.A. program. Then, he took us to a local shopping mall so that I could buy a pair of running shoes. The mall offered everything from a Sephora cosmetics store to (sadly) a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.

The administrators are trying to arrange for me to meet librarians at the business school and the law school, as well as a Chinese professor who studied law in the U.S. and has a scholarly interest in U.S. corporate law and mergers/acquisitions.

I am going to relinquish the netbook to Ken now, so that he can prepare for his first classes tomorrow.